I agree - I am busy with my first trip report and the remarks of the other forumites are what keep me going. The positive comments mean a lot to me, and the fact that people are actually reading what I wrote seems vaguely surreal, but what a great compliment they are paying me just by reading what I wrote, let alone making apleasant comment.

Oh, Meandering Mouse - lens caps have a way of getting in the way. I went with great fanfare to a course of lessons in photography armed with my brand new camera. There, in amongst fifteen other people, I did everything the instructor told us to do. Nothing. I asked for help. The teenaged girl beside me whispered not unkindly,"Take off the lens cap."

That is terrible!!!! The other bonus of writing trip reports is that instead of just taking photos of the obvious animals one now thinks of how you are structuring your report and everything is seen in a new light. You actually start composing your report while on your trip. It makes for a new dimension in your travels.

Cape of Storms wrote:That is terrible!!!! The other bonus of writing trip reports is that instead of just taking photos of the obvious animals one now thinks of how you are structuring your report and everything is seen in a new light. You actually start composing your report while on your trip. It makes for a new dimension in your travels.

It is true what you say COS! If you know you are going to write a TR, it affects your thoughts while you are there. This is actually a negative for me. I want to just experience the bush for myself! Rather than think how I can share it with others while I should be relaxing with the animals! From now onwards, I go to the bush with the mindset that I am not going to write a TR at all. And will consider if I want to write a TR after I come home. But that is just me

Personally, when enjoying the bush, I do not worry about any TR's or what pics I need to take or what I am going to say to people later. I do keep a basic overview-diary of events on our trip, and refer to that when I am writing about it. I also don't go onto laptops and upload pics; I want to experience EVERYTHING while I am there, including night sounds and early rising - so need some beauty sleep, otherwise I'd just be too tired to enjoy anything. When I sit down to write a report, all the images and choice commentary will flow through my head like the floods of Kruger in January. Sometimes it takes days before that happens, but when it does, I know I better sit and type!

Now I see you guys making notes of your adventures for the TR's...See, uhm.... This heksie has the saying:'elephants never forget' and that is the case with the plump witchy. I just remember everything. If I see my kiekie I see the story playing off in my head and I remember the stupid thing I did or my sis said and it abrupts like a flood over my computer screen. That is why it takes me and hour or more to write an episode. I want you guys to experience, feel and laugh about what we laughed in the car. Writing about my trips was the best thing invented by this forum. When I'm old and wrinkly I will be able to relive my best days on earth because of the TR's...

Notes are not necessary for me. What I felt and thought of a sighting then, is not as valuable as what I think and feel about the sightings today its not so much about reporting how things were, as explaining what you will carry with you forever

It is simply up to you to decide how to write your TR Just remember to invest the time on replying to those who commented on your trip report The magic of the trip reports lies in the interactions between the writer and readers

As the author of the first 2 travel tales (they were put on the home page of the web site first by Admin, and it was decided to start a thread on the forum for anyone who wanted to do one), here is my input.

1. Go to a park.2. Keep a written & photographic record of your trip.3. Think of an interesting title4. Write it up in a word doc and copy & paste it into a TR.5. Make it light and humourous.6. Not too long.7. Not too detailed.8. Do it!

Whatever (according to BB): "You are correct but I don't want to admit it".

What got me interested in the forums in the first place was the travel tales thread. I still spend most of my time on the forums here, and have spent even more contributing, and writing up my own travel tales. It is a great way of remembering your trip. Putting down in words and pictures what you did, what you saw, what you heard, felt and experienced. And then to share this with an audience that gets just excited about it as yourself!

The biggest fans of my TR's is my SO. He cannot wait for me to start posting a TR once we return. It's in a way how we relive our whole holiday again. It's a special thing for us - even if nobody commented - he would love it and I would still do it!

The different ways people write makes it so interesting. It inspires me for future trip reports. It is interesting, exciting and fun to read how somebody experienced a trip. And you can express that emotion in so many ways!

Keep on writing - so much emotion and human interaction is contained in story-telling. It is an age-old instinct to tell stories, and so much a part of who we are!